Perfection Reflection
by Bleeding Destruction
Summary: "Don't you get it? I'm defective. Worthless, meaningless, a waste of space. No one wants me, and the few that did- Dead." "I don't think you're a waste of space." "Then you're delusional, because I only know how to fail." "Remember this? There has never been a story of such sorrow but that of Juliet and her Romeo. That was not failure... That was perfection reflected." ZaDR.
1. Chapter One: Only Defective

_Perfection Reflection: Chapter One: Only Defective:_

On Earth, Zim was ready to begin his day. He'd taken his paste bath; eaten six waffles drenched in syrup, and stored a cupcake with hot icing in his PAK for lunch so that it'd stay warm. He placed his wig atop his head and placed his violet contacts on. Now was about the time that Dib came to bother him- though in all honesty, he'd be lonely if Dib didn't come around. The Tallest shut down Gir, Minimoose, the Computer, everything! But Zim had kept up a veil of normalcy this long, and he wasn't about to let the Dib think otherwise. No, because then Dib would leave him alone, and he'd have nothing left to live for. Nothing at all. And Zim wasn't ready to die at fifteen.

"ZIM! ZIM!" Dib slammed on the door with his fists. "Open up!"

Zim frowned, and shrieked, "Computer, get rid of the intruder!" He knew full well nothing would happen. "Computer, obey me!"

Dib laughed, "You can't even get your own technology to listen to you! At least you've stopped sending Gir to do your dirty work; he never could do anything right…"

Zim flung the door open. "How dare you insult Gir?" He slapped the boy across the face. "He was always useful! Always!"

"Was…?" Dib asked, glaring. "What do you mean was?"

Zim winced… He hadn't meant to give the Dib clues. "I, er… you see, he's broken, so right now he's down in the lab until I can repair him properly, and I haven't had the time because of all the school work I have to do so that that _horrible_ teacher will not hunt me down and _kill_ me. Yep. Yep. Gir's just broken; that's all. Now… get off my door, Dib-worm!" He shoved him down and slammed the door, longing for his PAK legs and Gir and Minimoose and the computer, but no amount of wishing would bring them back. Mostly he just missed Gir and Minimoose. They had been wonderful companions, possibly even friends, and now they were just hollow shells sitting at the table, waiting for a dinner they would never get to eat. "Where did this go so wrong?" Zim wondered aloud. "Why would they punish Minimoose and Gir anyways? They were good; they didn't do much wrong… they weren't perfect, but no one's perfect, not even the Tallest, right?"

Zim flopped down on his couch. He didn't want to go to school and face another day of Miss Bitters, and Dib's mocking, and everyone else's mocking, and Gaz's random violence. But it wasn't as though he had anything else to live for. And so, with a sigh, Zim dragged himself to his feet and out the door.

Dib was still there; this was their ritual. Dib would show up at Zim's house, Zim would chase him out, Dib would wait for him, and they'd walk to skool. This was normal, comfortable, easy, and so Zim accepted as was. He ignored Dib's prying the entire walk to school, afraid he might say something else Dib could use against him.

**00000**

"Zim!" Miss Bitters barked. "Present your _worthless_ presentation now!"

Zim winced. He had left his paper at home. "I… er, that is…"

Dib laughed. "What's the problem, Zim? Forget your project?"

"No!" Zim declared, searching his PAK as quickly (which was rather slow) as he could for the information. "I memorized it!"

"Then begin!" Miss Bitters snapped.

Zim stood up and began telling the tale of Romeo and Juliet with gusto in present day speech, leaving everyone speechless, even Dib. He finished with such emotion in his voice that all the girls in the class were teary-eyed. "There has never been a story of such sorrow but that of Juliet and her Romeo."

Miss Bitters herself was so surprised that all she could say was: "Thank you; sit down, Zim."

Zim sat down and let his head drop to the desk with a loud crash. His little memory scan took so much out of him. His eyesight went blurry and faded away as his exhaustion grew, but he simply let his PAK shut down various functions. No one would care if he was conscious or not anyways.

"Zim? Zim!" Dib called.

Zim slipped out of his seat and collapsed on the floor. His squeedily-spooch jerked and twisted as his PAK struggled to filter the air. "Fuck… malfunction… serves me… right." He gasped out. Zim frowned deeply at himself. He should've known better than to try to use any part of his PAK, regardless of if the Tallest shut it down or not. He was defective, and that meant something was wrong. He should have worked on his thinking without the PAK instead of continuing to use it. Though he couldn't see, he could hear frantic footsteps and heard someone walk right up to his face.

"I'll take him to the nurse, Miss Bitters," spoke Dib.

Zim was scared. The Dib hated him! Blindly, he jerked away from Dib's touch and staggered to his feet. "Hah… Hah…" He breathed deeply. "I'm fine… Hah… I'll, uh, just go to my base, uh, I… hah, mean hah… home." He stumbled towards the place where he knew the door to be, and walked right into it. Dib tried to help him, reaching out a hand. "Don't… DON'T TOUCH ME!" Zim shrieked at the human. Zim doubled over then, gasping for air that was cleaner. "Hah… Hah… Hah… Worm-babies! Just leave Zim… hah, alone!" Zim managed to open the door and blunder out of the classroom at a slow jog.

Zim grappled at the wall for purchase, using it to guide him to the door and exit. He flung open the door and kept going. The green-skinned alien fell down the stairs and did not bother to pick himself up. "Fuck it… all…" What was the point? What was he hoping to accomplish? The Tallest already made it clear that he was no good at anything… He was smart but he used it wrong. What good would that do? He couldn't help his empire, and he couldn't help Earth. Sometimes he wished that his self-destruct button worked… Life would be _so _much easier if he just _had_ that option…

But things weren't that easy. Not for defects like Zim.

"Gir…" Zim mumbled sadly, wheezing for air. He fucked up and ruined it for all of them. "I'm sorry I fucked us all over…" The door opened. Footsteps sounded, and Zim's lekku perked. He knew who it was. "Get lost, Dib-smell," demanded Zim, dragging himself to his feet. "Hah, hah, hah, I'm going home. Don't… don't follow me. Go… hah, back to class…"

"What is wrong with you?" Dib exclaimed. "Why have you been acting so weird, and why do you look like you're dying now?"

Zim laughed, and then doubled over when his squeedily-spooch jerked. "You want to know what's wrong with me? Hah, hah, hahahah, I'm a defect, worm-baby! And I look like I'm dying because I probably _am_! But it… hah… doesn't fucking matter… hah… anyways! Because Gir and Minimoose and the computer!" Zim paused to struggle for air. "They're all gone and the Tallest… hahahah, they don't give a fuck!" Zim threw himself back on the ground. "I can't even be bothered right now. Sucks that I'll die at fifteen and short as a slcogg. That's what I… hah; hah… get for trying to use… the PAK…"

Dib slung Zim over his shoulder; the alien shrieked and protested with what little energy he had. "Whatever, you're not going to die on a sidewalk. The Zim I knew had too much pride for that."

"Put me down!" Zim screamed, slamming his fists on his rival's back. "I'd rather die than… hah, get help from you!"

"Too bad," Dib stated, and he walked down the sidewalk to Zim's house. Dib opened the door, and Zim was tossed unceremoniously onto the couch. Wires attached themselves to Zim's PAK, and his vision and breathing returned to normal as he began recharging and the filter was replaced. "I'm going to get a snack," decided the scythe-haired teenager, heading for the kitchen.

"No! Don't go in there!" Zim cried, jumping up and diving for Dib's arm.

Dib paused only momentarily. "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all! I just don't think it's safe in there!" Zim declared randomly.

Dib's eyes narrowed. "You don't care about my safety." He walked right on in; Zim scrambled to keep up.

Gir sat at the table, his body limp, and his head supported by the table. Minimoose lay sideways in a chair. Zim glanced over once and then quickly looked away. He could feel wetness stinging in the corners of his eyes. He chalked it up to the itchy contacts and removed them, rubbing vigorously at his maroon orbs. "I told you not to come in here. I don't even come in here anymore."

"What happened to them?" Dib murmured, shocked.

Zim narrowed his eyes, glaring at Dib. "I told you. I'm only defective. And I fucked things up for all of us. They just got the better end of the deal. Shut down, instead of suffering." The Irken spun around and stalked out of the room. "I'm going upstairs. Let yourself out when you please, Dib-beast. You clearly won't listen anyways."


	2. Chapter Two: Only Irken

**NOW WITH A SNAZZY NEW PICTURE DRAWN IN CRAYON IN A UNDER A MINUTE.**

**CUZ IT'S**_ THAT** IMPORTANT.**_

_Perfection Reflection: Chapter Two: Only Irken:_

Zim began stalking up the stairs he had installed (a long, hard process) when something jerked as his PAK and yanked him back down. "What the-?" He looked back at the cords. "I guess I'm not going upstairs…" He walked right back down, frustrated and tired. He wished he could fall asleep, but with Dib-smell around, it wasn't safe. He hadn't forgotten all those years of being threatened with dissection, and he sure as Slorck wasn't willing to wake up and find himself on a table, Gir and Minimoose all cut up next to him… He'd had enough nightmares about that; he'd skip the living nightmare, no doubts about that.

He plopped down on the couch and stared at the broken TV that he couldn't be bothered to fix. He couldn't get any galactic channels anyways, and all the Earth shows were boring, save for that one show Dib watched… What was it? Mysterious Mysteries? That was good for a laugh, but Zim didn't care for comedies at this point. He just preferred to sleep all day and forget his troubles with a drink or two when he could scrounge up the money and be bothered to get out of the house and get a beer—not that it was hard to find money, as all he had to do was print it and voila. But it was not something he did often; he'd rather keep his squeedily-spooch in decent shape.

Dib entered the living room and sat down. "Why didn't you go upstairs? Afraid I'd get proof you were an alien?" Zim, normally quick to anger, couldn't be bothered to fight with the human. He jerked his hand backwards to point at the wires. "Well, you should've been. I could've stole Gir." Dib pointed out cheerfully.

"I could've kicked your ass," Zim pointed out angrily. "Leave my robots alone. If you've got a fight to pick, pick it with someone that can fight back. If there's one thing I learned in the academy that I can…" Zim trailed off and then picked up with, "There's no honor in fighting something that can't put up a feeble defense system. If you don't have to try at all, then it's not an honorable thing to do."

"Whatever, unless you become human magically, you'll have to deal with me thwarting all your evil plans and capturing you so that I can prove that I'm not crazy." Dib declared, posing heroically.

Zim mumbled thoughtfully, "become human, or…?" Then he smirked. "Aren't you a little too old for those poses? I thought only little humans did that."

"They're called _kids_, and I can do it too!" Dib argued.

"No wonder people call you crazy…" Zim taunted. "You act like a little human!"

"_How _do people not realize that_ you're_ an _alien_? You don't even _speak _right!" Dib exclaimed. "And you're _green_! And when your contacts fall out, they actually believe you have pink eye! Hey! I get it now… But I'll show them! It doesn't matter how _stupid_ they are, I'll just find something they _can't_ ignore!"

Zim grinned, "It's a skin condition. Can't you show a little more compassion, Dib?"

"IT'S NOT A SKIN CONDITION!" Dib shrieked manically.

"What if you caught it? How'd you feel then?" Zim demanded. "I am a perfectly normal human worm-baby! All that's wrong with me is my skin condition and tendency to get pink-eye! _Get out of my base_, er, I mean, home!"

"NEVER! You can't make me!" Dib yelled.

Zim strode toward the door and yanked it open. "Leave Zim alone!" The neighbor in the yard next door was not surprised by the outburst; it was a regular occurrence. "Get out of my base, I mean, home!"

Dib walked up to Zim; he towered over the five foot four alien at six feet even. "Make me."

Zim reached up and grabbed the human by his scythe-shaped lock of hair, yanking him down to eye-level. He whispered in his ear, "If that's what you want, pitiful human." And then with finesse that Dib was not surprised at (Zim had enrolled himself in karate, jujutsu, and capoeira a few years back for invasion purposes and gotten black belts in all), Zim threw the paranormal investigator out of the house by his hair. Zim could almost imagine Gir yelling 'Goodbye' in his squeaky soprano voice. He slammed the door and collapsed back on the couch. "So, become human… What if he became Irken…? He'd be a lot less willing to have me dissected, I imagine…"

For the first time in a very long time, Zim was forcing his way into his labs. Humans and Irkens may have once been a sister race, but the DNA transformation would still be difficult to force… He had a long night ahead of him.

Maybe once he was done he'd treat himself to a drink… Why not?

**00000**

Zim was ready to commence his Friday. He'd taken his paste bath; eaten six waffles drenched in melted chocolate (one of the good things on Earth), and stored a lickystick in his PAK for lunch. He placed his wig atop his head and placed his violet contacts on.

And cue the Dib-thing. "ZIM! ZIM!" Dib slammed on the door with his fists. "Open up!"

Zim frowned, and shrieked, "Computer, get rid of the intruder!" He knew full well nothing would happen. "Computer, obey me!"

Dib laughed, "You can't even get your own technology to listen to you!"

Zim smirked. The pitiful human had _no_ idea what was about to hit him. Reaching over to the couch, he lifted a shock gun. Instead of powering it, however, he placed a needle on the prongs, and started it up. The defective Irken opened the door and took aim.

"What the hell are you doing, Zim?" Dib dodged as Zim shot.

Zim clicked the gun, and the prongs retracted themselves. "I'm showing you what it's like to be the only Irken in a planet with _no one_ to help you." Dib rolled to the sidewalk and grabbed a trashcan lid as the alien fired another round. The volley was reflected back towards the shooter. Zim's eyes widened in shock as the needle dug into the pink uniform shirt and pricked his skin and then he fell forward. He caught himself with his hands. "Oh Irk… This won't end well…"

Dib watched the maroon-eyed male drag himself inside the strange colored house. He sat down on the doorstep and waited outside for the alien. As he sat there, he heard retching.

**00000**

**You! Yes, you there! **

**If you want a free one-shot or songfic read this! I'm giving them out for free to anyone who asks June 4 and 5, 2012! So ask, ask away! Prompts, ideas, pics, all kinds of inspiration will be used to make you an awesome story :D **

**YAY! Free stories! **


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